PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Public Utilities District commissioners Tuesday approved a plan for a proposed sewer system in Carlsborg.
The two-volume document will be sent to the state Department of Ecology for approval.
It also clears the way for the PUD to secure more grant funding to help pay for the estimated $15 million sewer and wastewater treatment plant off Carlsborg Road west of Sequim.
As part of the approval, PUD Commissioners Hugh Haffner and Will Purser directed staff to update the feasibility of connecting portions of the Carlsborg urban growth area to the Sequim city sewer system — alternative B in the facilities plan.
Commissioner Ted Simpson was absent at Monday’s meeting.
Not moving forward
“There seems to be a misconception here that this facilities plan is a decision that this project’s going forward,” Purser said.
“That’s not what it is. It’s basically an incremental step that we have to take in order to qualify for funding.”
The PUD will own and manage the system after Clallam County builds it. The county, which has budgeted $4 million for the sewer, has a vested interest because Carlsborg was determined to be noncompliant with the Growth Management Act because it lacked a sewer or a sewer plan.
Last Thursday, the Public Works Trust Fund of the state Department of Commerce Public Works Board approved a $10 million, 0.5-percent-interest loan to build the sewer.
Sewer users would pay back the loan over 30 years.
Armed with an approved sewer plan, the PUD will begin to study the formation of a local utilities district for the sewer. A public petition is being circulated to gauge what PUD officials consider to be growing public support for the sewer.
No formulas
The facilities plan does not include ways for determining sewer assessments — or the cost.
After a hired appraiser develops the assessments, the PUD would hold a formal hearing to take public comment before forming the utility district.
Dick Donaldson, who owns 40 undeveloped acres in Carlsborg, said at Monday’s PUD commissioners’ meeting that he supports the sewer but wants to know more about the costs.
Speaking on behalf of a citizens group, Donaldson asked the PUD commissioners to reject the facilities plan until more details about the assessments are known.
PUD General Manager Doug Nass said the PUD is aiming for a $100-per-month cost to sewer customers. The sewer is initially expected to serve about 200 homes and businesses.
County officials — including Commissioners Steve Tharinger and Mike Doherty, Department of Community Development Director John Miller and Planning Manager Steve Gray — took part in the two-hour discussion at the PUD headquarters east of Port Angeles.
The county hopes to finish the design and permitting phase in mid-2011. A new sewer may be up and running by late 2012.
“There’s a number of steps we have to take here,” Tharinger told Donaldson.
“Right now, we don’t have an approved plan that we can base any costs on. We’re going to be true to our word that we’re not going to make you sign onto an LUD [local utility district] until you know the exact cost, but we can’t get to those exact costs until we get an approved capital facilities plan.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
